Don't let your guard down with the sunny weather and fresh snow. Carefully assess the snowpack before venturing into more aggressive terrain.
Confidence
Moderate - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
Fine weather for the foreseeable future. Significant warming begins Tuesday afternoon, with temperatures eventually forecast to hit double digits at mountaintop!!!Monday: Cloudy with sunny periods. Freezing levels around 400 m. Light northwesterly winds.Tuesday: Mainly sunny and becoming warm up high. Freezing levels rising to 2000 m. Light northerly winds.Wednesday: Sunny and warm. Light northerly winds. Freezing levels 3000m. Alpine high temperatures to +11 Celsius!
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches reported. A significant travel hazard on Tuesday may be snow falling off heavily laden trees (aka tree bombs) as the freezing level heads to 3000m and temperatures rise quickly.
Snowpack Summary
Late last week through to Saturday we saw significant storm snow totals, on the order of 80-100cm in the North Shore mountains. That said, all the new snow appears to be bonding well to a crust (down 80-100cm at tree line elevations) and stabilizing rapidly. Travel has improved below tree line, but there are still open creeks, alder and other early season hazards. Expect snow depths of around 60 cm at 800 m and around 200 cm at 1200 m.
Problems
Storm Slabs
Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.